for a -long stretch south of Chama. Below its confluence with the Rio Brazos, the Rio Chama offers several miles of excellent fly fishing to the tailwaters of Heron Lake and El Vado Reservoir. The Rio Chama, is very wide at this point, with large runs, pools, and large boulders that create excellent fishing opportunities for rainbow and wild brown trout. Chama Canyon The walls in Chama Canyon rise some above the river. The canyon rim and sloping uplands are "frequently punctuated by steep sandstone and shale outcroppings. Inside the canyon is a plethora of geological wonders including high, steep canyon walls and escarpments consisting of rock slides, ledges, pinnacles and ridges. The bedrock of Chama Canyon is shale, basalt, tuft, sandstone, granite, quartzite and other types of rocks, some of which formed about 110 million years ago." The Chama Valley is home to dense stands of ponderosa pine, douglas-fir, pinyon, juniper, mountain mahogany, gambel oak, and serviceberry. The riparian area also includes cottonwoods, box elder, willows, hackberry and numerous shrubs that are indigenous to north-central New Mexico. It is teeming with a variety of wildlife including cougars, black bears, elk, mule deer, badgers, bobcats, coyotes, beavers, raccoons, ducks, dippers, spotted sandpipers, Canada geese, turkey, golden eagles, bald eagles, falcons, hawks, owls, turkey vultures, brown and rainbow trout, flathead chub, flathead minnows, white suckers, carp, channel catfish, black crappie, longnose dace, and other species of mammals, birds and fish. Various species of rattlesnakes are found in the adjacent mountain valleys and canyons. See also List of rivers in Colorado List of New Mexico rivers List of National Wild and Scenic Rivers List of tributaries of the Rio Grande References External links Rivers of Rio Arriba County, New Mexico Rivers of Colorado Rivers of New Mexico Tributaries of the Rio Grande Wild and Scenic Rivers of the United States Rivers of Archuleta County, Colorado Old Spanish Trail (trade route)